Songwriter Hatch scales new heights with his tunes

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch says he isn't about to give up his day job. In fact, all indications are that the 71-year-old will run for re-election yet again.

But the senior Republican senator from Utah is singing a new tune. Actually, he's singing a lot of them as he relentlessly pursues a second job as a songwriter.

"There's probably 700 or 800 of them," he said, "but only about a hundred that have been produced. So I wouldn't call it a career."

Hatch's foray into writing inspirational and religious songs has been well-documented. But in recent years, he's also dabbled in writing country music and ballads, one of which, "Are You Lonely Here With Me," he's been assured is a "sure hit" waiting to be recorded.

His songwriting — he writes the words and then teams with a musician who adds the tunes — was thrust into the national spotlight earlier this year during President Bush's second inauguration when Hatch's song "Heal Our Land" was played to throngs gathered on the National Mall.

He received thousands of e-mails and letters of congratulations. "It was very gratifying to know I had uplifted a lot of people," he said.

For Hatch, a poetry aficionado, writing songs is a catharsis to the rough-and-tumble world of politics.

"It can be very combative, sometimes discouraging here, and I am constantly under stress and pressure," he told the Deseret Morning News. "Writing music is an inspiration that really helps me to overcome the downsides of being a political figure. It's a wonderful release for me."

His songs have been praised by some top songwriters in Nashville, and no less than Bono, the master song-crafter and front-man for legendary Irish band U2. Hatch forged the friendship while helping Bono with sub-Saharan African debt relief and AIDS issues.

Hatch will tell anyone and everyone the story of how the Irish rock star and humanitarian listened to some Hatch tunes and called his music "beautiful." But he said he should change the song credit to Johnny Trapdoor because no one would ever sing a song by a conservative, white Mormon. Lest anyone think Hatch is name-dropping, Bono even praised Hatch during a U2 performance in Utah.

"He is a very spiritual guy," Hatch said, admitting he reads U2's lyrics more than he listens to the music. "He is a really, really good songwriter."

Not everyone is on the Hatch bandwagon. A Google search of "Hatch" and "songwriter" reveals hundreds of hits, many of them blog sites where participants chortle and ridicule Hatch's music.